CNews Issue 3, 2009

HKU & Community 18 We Serve, China Earthquake: HKU Action In response to the Sichuan Earthquake in 2008, the HKU community has been involved in various voluntary projects in which the University possesses expertise. With donations from alumni and the community, the University has set aside some internal seed funding for its academic colleagues to engage in research and service-oriented initiatives in the earthquake-affected areas. The 15 funded projects cover a wide range of strategic areas including catastrophe health care, emergency engineering, capacity building and psycho-social care, and social services management: Faculty of Architecture - HanWang Master Planning Project - New Tendency of Suburbanisation on the Chengdu-Dujiangyan Plain Faculty of Engineering - Mitigation of Secondary Earthquake Damage due to Quake Lakes from Exploration of Soil Erosion and Streamflow Predictions in Ungauged Basins - Inherent Strength-Based Approach for Seismic Resistant Design of Low-Rise Masonry Buildings - Low-Cost Earthquake Protection Method using Tire-Soil Mixtures: Experimental Studies - Setting-up a Standard and Building a Model of Multimedia E-learning Classrooms for rebuilt schools in Sichuan - Mobilising, Managing and Building Capacity among Volunteers for Emergency Relief and Community Reconstruction Centre on Behavioral Health supports mothers who lost their children in the 512 earthquake and whose newborn babies bring hope to Sichuan. Faculty of Science - Geoenvironmental Assessment of Abandoned Landfills and Industrial Sites in Earthquake Stricken Areas Faculty of Social Sciences - Study on the Experience of Loss & Grief Trajectories of Bereaved Victims - Study on the Mental Health Consequences of Catastrophes - Psycho-social Capacity Building Programme for Grass- roots Cadres on Post-disaster Stress Management - Development and Validation of a Grief Therapy Manual for Bereaved Adults - Study on the Development of a Cultural-Specific Meaning-Oriented Mass Trauma Intervention - Comparative Study on the Effects of Relocation Following Disaster for Affected and Non-Affected Secondary School Students - Research on Crisis Communication in relation to the Sichuan Earthquake www.hku.hk/chinaearthquake